WHALELIBRARY · HISTORICAL MARITIME RECORDS

Maritime Accounts, Ship Logs and Coastal Encounters

Across the nineteenth century, Kāpiti, Mana Island, Cloudy Bay and Port Nicholson were linked by ships, whaling crews, merchants and Māori communities. The reports below record dated appearances; their connections form the wider story behind the scrollable Ships, Captains and Voyages register.

Cloudy Bay — 64 recorded appearances

Contemporary shipping observations place vessels and their crews within the coastal network. These dated reports connect port visits, crew movements and trading activity across the region.

Source: WhalingHistory Australian Place Reports — Cloudy Bay.

Kāpiti Island — 20 recorded appearances

Source: WhalingHistory Australian Place Reports — Kāpiti Island.

Port Nicholson — 18 recorded appearances

Source: WhalingHistory Australian Place Reports — Port Nicholson.

The people and the trade

Ship movements are only one part of the maritime story. The Fraser brothers' schooner Twins connected Mana Island, Kāpiti, Ahuriri, Taranaki and South Island communities. Alexander and Thomas Fraser were twin brothers who came to Kāpiti as traders in 1837; in 1839 they arranged with Te Rangihaeata to use Mana Island as a base for trading and whaling.

The Long Point account book (1840–1842) records expenses, workers and vessels associated with Fraser's whaling establishment. Its entries document Māori and Pākehā participation in the station economy. A related historical wage account describes headsmen, boat crews, a cooper, carpenter, clerk and tonguer, and records payments and advances. The names and occupations form the beginning of the linked Whalers Register.

The journal of an officer aboard HMS Conway records a September 1837 visit to Kāpiti and Cloudy Bay and observations of Māori–whaler interactions, barter and intermarriage. William Barnard Rhodes's log of the barque Australian (1836–1838) includes seamen's articles, stores, agreements and material relating to Kāpiti. These surviving manuscripts place individual voyages within wider social and commercial history.

Original records and further reading

Alexander Fraser and Long Point account book, MSY-6844, Alexander Turnbull Library; HMS Conway journal, qMS-1080, and Australian log, qMS-1693; WhalingHistory.